10 comments:

Seeing that lineup reminds me that Del Reeves developed a mental block and at least twice on the TV portion (I don't know about the other times) introduced him as "Teddy Doyle." One time, Teddy corrected him. Ralph Emery once said that Doyle Wilburn was the biggest operator he ever met--he was always up to something. Another thing about that lineup is that the TV portion included an 82-year-old who was not yet a member. The idea that today's management would have given that kind of air time to someone like Oswald? Puh-leeze.

Byron may end up with a post on this, but I thought I would alert anyone checking in that we lost another Opry veteran this morning. Earl White died at the age of 78. He had been the fiddler for the Crook Brothers from 1973 until the group dissolved, and remained on the Opry performing with the square dancers until just a couple of weeks ago. He first came to the Opry as a musician in 1955 and worked with a variety of legends. I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with him and being Facebook friends, and he was just a treasure.

Listening to the Opry last evening really adds to my confusion about what the mission is or the method for determining who gets to perform. Much of it is my taste which is obviously conservative and traditional but some of the things I hear just make me shake my head in dismay. There were a few of those performances last night that I will let your imagination figure out. Yet, what I am shaking my head about goes over with huge applause and screams and maybe even baby throwing for all I know.

Then, here comes Jean Shepard and she was in better form last evening than on some nights recently, and she knocks em' out and got applause that sounded like was going to turn into a standing ovation after her yodel.

The same thing often happens to Jim Ed Brown and others like Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, and others. Granted, most I mention are among those older or traditional artist who seem to get the call most often. However, they are getting the big applause with what I guess I can know call "Opry Roots Music" so why is it being programmed disproportionately to the new stuff. Where is the time for some of the others who seem to rarely get called anymore? And I do believe based on more than just my own prejudice, that it is a matter of not getting the call.

Sorry for bringing up points we have discussed here many times before. It just continues to baffle me and makes me sad as we continue to loose folks like Earl White and others. I feel they will pass into obscurity when they are gone because they are not being replaced with anyone who will carry on their music and therefore no one will be around to say "here's a song in the style of Charlie, Bill, Connie or whoever. Today those who are left will mention Bob Wills, Roy Acuff, the Louvins, but who will mention them when they are gone. And I really do feel that management is awaiting the day they can say "finally, all those old so and so's are gone, now we can make something of this place.

Again, I apologize for the bore revisit to old news but it helps to talk about it.

Matt Combs is the fiddle player that replaced Hoot Hester. He used to work with Mike Snider back in the day. Not sure how he really sounded last night, but overall, he is a good fiddler and has been around the Opry for a while.

Again, no Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree last night and no more live shows until September. Things are not going well over there.

I agree Jim. I have a feeling that after "all those old so and so's are gone" and management sees the quality of entertainment left, they will realize what they truly had after it is too late to do anything about. From the way it sounded on the radio, Jesse McReynolds and the tribute to Earl White got the biggest crowd reaction of the night.

I was probably too hard on Matt CombsMaybe it was just the particular song they asked him to play, but it didn't seem to have much life to it.Might be because Hoot Hester is from around here, just like Joe Edwards was, that it sounded so bland to me.

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About Me

I am a nationally recognized independent historian of the Grand Ole Opry. In addition to being the publisher and writer of Fayfare's Opry Blog, I have also researched Opry information for numerous authors and interested Opry fans. A resident of Canton, Ohio, I have attended hundreds of Grand Ole Opry shows since my first visit to Nashville in 1973. I can be contacted via email at bfay54@gmail.com